LAHORE: Justice Anwaar Hussain of the Lahore High Court referred a petition seeking the removal of former Prime Minister Imran Khan from the office of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)
chairman following his disqualification in the Toshakhana reference to the Chief Justice on Tuesday.
Justice Hussain pointed out that a brother judge, Justice Abid Hussain Chattah, was already dealing with a similar petition, so it would be appropriate to combine the two.
The judge referred the petition to the chief justice, requesting that it be heard before the judge who is already hearing the same matter.
The petition was filed by Advocate Muhammad Afaq, who claimed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified the former prime minister and deserted him from NA-95, Mianwali, on a corruption charge.
He stated that political party officers must meet the standards outlined in Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, as well as the provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act of 1976 and the Political Parties Order of 2002. However, he claimed that Mr. Khan was breaking the law by continuing to hold PTI chairmanship, which was registered with the ECP.
The petitioner also mentioned the case in which the Supreme Court barred former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from leading the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) after he was disqualified under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.
The petitioner requested that the high court order the ECP to remove Mr. Khan as PTI chairman and issue an order for the nomination of a new party leader.
CARETAKERS: On Tuesday, Justice Anwaar Hussain referred to the Chief Justice a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) challenging the caretaker government of Punjab’s ‘blanket’ powers to make transfers and postings of officers in the province.
The judge recently served notices on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the Punjab caretaker government.
A lawyer for the ECP, however, informed the judge that similar petitions were already pending before three different judges.
At that point, Justice Hussain forwarded the file to the Chief Justice, requesting that all identical petitions be heard by the same judge.
Fawad Chaudhry, senior vice president of PTI, filed the petition.
The petitioner claimed that the ECP was mechanically approving large-scale transfers/postings by the caretaker government without checking them against the provisions of Section 230 of the Election Act 2017.
The counsel asked the court to vacate the contested ECP notification, which was issued on March 10, and granted the caretaker government blanket permission to transfer, post, and appoint officers in the province without seeking prior approval from the commission.